Refrigerating means



1959 s. s. CORHANIDIS 2,872,792

REFRIGERATING MEANS Filed Nov. 15, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Q m 9 y lllllllllll d m Q [1 lllllllllll lllllllllll ummm 8 S. 60 rkan z'azz's ATTORNEYS 1959 s. s. CORHANIDIS REFRIGERATING MEANS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 15, 1955 INVENTOR 5.5. Corfianz'dz's ATTORNEY-5 3 W a 7 m 8 .T. 2

5 m AG M 0 m c w -I 3m 8 R Feb. 10, 1959 Flled Nov 15, 1955 INVENTOR 3. 5. Corfian z'iz s BY r ATTORNEYS United States Patent REFRIGERATING MEANS Sebastien S. Corhanidis, Athens, Greece Application November 15, 1955, Serial No. 546,933

Claims priority, application Greece December 27, 1954 1 Claim. (Cl. 62-419) In my U. S. Patent No. 2,489,009 of November 22, 1949, and my U. S. Patent No. 2,525,868 of October 17, 1950, a portable refrigerating unit is shown detachably mounted at the exterior of a housing in which products to be refrigerated are placed, said unit having means for drawing air from the housing and forcing it back into said housing and having refrigerating means for cooling this drawn and forced air.

The present invention was designed to so improve the construction of the housing as to insure effective distribution of the cooled air therein.

In carrying out the above end, a further object of the invention is to provide a plenum chamber under the floor of the housing to receive the cooled air from the refrigerating unit, and to provide said floor with air discharge means from said plenum chamber to the housing interior, said air discharge means being preferably in the form of a relatively long and narrow slot.

With the above and other objects in view that will become apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel form, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation of the housing;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing a portable refrigerating unit attached to the housing;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the housing and refrigerating unit;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing a portable refrigerating unit supported independently of the housing.

The housing 6 is of rectangular form and suitably constructed from metal-armored thermal insulation. This housing is preferably provided with supporting runners 7 and with draught shackles 8 to facilitate movement from place to place. Other shackles 9 are preferably provided to facilitate use of a hoist, for example, when the housing is to be loaded onto a flat car or truck, or unloaded therefrom.

In the front wall 10 of the housing 6, a loading and unloading door 11 is shown, suitably hinged at 12 and provided with appropriate fasteners 13.

The housing back wall 14 includes a frame 15 which provides said back wall with a cold air inlet 16 and with an air outlet 17 for communication with a portable refrigerating unit 18. In Figs. 2, 3 and 4, thus unit 18 is detachably hung at 19 upon the back wall 14, whereas in Fig. 5 said unit 18 is spaced behind said back wall and supported by rollers 20.

The housing 6 has a bottom 21 and a floor 22 spaced above said bottom to provide a plenum chamber 23. This plenum chamber 23 extends from side to side of the housing 6 and from the front wall 10 almost to the rear wall 14. Near this rear Wall 14, a duct 24 connects the cold air inlet 16 with the plenum chamber 23; and near "ice the front wall 10. the floor 22 is formed with an air discharge slot 25 from said chamber 23 into the housing 6. The unit 18 forces cold air into the chamber 23 through the air inlet 16 and duct 24 and this air is discharged through the slot 25 into the housing 6. While this flow of air is occurring, air is being withdrawn from the housing 6 through the outlet 17 by the unit 18. A continuous circulation of cold air is thus produced to effectively cool the housing contents 26 by passage through and/ or around the same.

The width of the slot 25 is such as to somewhat restrict the flow of the circulated air, the object of which is to uniformly distribute the flow of air throughout the length of the slot and consequently over the full width of the housing interior.

The unit 18 has an air inlet 27 for communication with the housing air outlet 17, and an air outlet 28 for communication with the housing inlet 16. In Fig. 4, the communication is direct but in Fig. 5 is established by a passage member 29. A gasket 30 is shown between the casing 31 of the unit 18 and housing 6 in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, and similar gaskets 32 are employed with the passage member 29 in Fig. 5.

Within the casing 31 of the unit 18, a motor-driven blower or fan 33 is provided to draw air from the housing 6 through the housing outlet 17 and force this air back into said housing through the inlet 16, duct 24, plenum chamber 23 and slot 25. A suitable refrigerating unit 34 is provided to cool the air during its passage through the casing 31. A motor-driven compresser for the refrigerant is shown at 35, and at 36 in Fig. 5 a refrigerant cooling coil has been illustrated.

From the foregoing it will be seen that novel and advantageous construction has been disclosed for attaining the desired ends, and while there is herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

A portable refrigerator for use with a portable refrigeration unit, an insulated housing including an air inlet opening underlying an air outlet opening in one wall for respectively communicating with the air outlet and inlet openings of the portable refrigeration unit, an access door through a wall of the housing remote from said one wall, said housing including a bottom portion, a floor spaced above said bottom portion and extending from inner marginal portions of said housing defining a plenum chamber above said bottom portion, duct means communicating between said air inlet opening and said plenum chamber remote from the wall including the access door, and an elongated cooled air egress slot portion in the floor across the base of said wall including the access door, said egress slot portion providing the sole means of escape for the cooled air passing into the housing from the plenum chamber and discharging above the floor, said slot causing the cooled air to pass in a vertical path first across the inner surface of the wall including the access door, and out of the said housing through said air outlet for maintaining a maximum low temperature adjacent said wall including said access door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,047,249 Ballard July 14, 1936 2,407,159 Jones Sept. 3, 1946 2,489,009 Corhanidis Nov. 22, 1949 2,502,893 Schmidt Apr. 4, 1950 2,688,808 Ipsen Sept. 14, 1954 2,730,867 Salisbury Jan. 17, 1956 

